Validity, Lasting Outcomes and Fairness of Learner Assessment from the Perspective of Educational Neuroscience

Abstract

from the standpoint of educational neuroscience are discussed in this article. Learner
assessment performed in any teaching-learning environment should produce valid and lasting
outcomes. The validity of assessment indicates that the results generated represent the learner
characteristics reliably using any strengths and weaknesses. The lasting feature of assessment
entails that the results are associated with learner characteristics rather the environmental
factors. When learner characteristics are identified in this manner, appropriate measures can
be taken to improve on any weaknesses identified while at the same time relying or staying
motivated on the strengths. It is imperative that educators make use of the findings from the
emerging field of educational neuroscience to design and construct assessment producing
valid and lasting outcomes. In educational neuroscience, how the human brain and related
structures engage in learning processes is studied. By incorporating this useful information
into teaching-learning processes, learners can be put on a path to creating useful, lasting
memories, across disciplinary boundaries, to lead them to higher levels of human
development yielding wisdom and consciousness. When assessments produce valid and
lasting outcomes, they essentially become fair for all types of learners including the gifted
learners who demonstrate right cerebral hemisphere oriented visual-spatial characteristics that
include higher sensitivities such as emotional sensitivity.